dogman dan
1 PW
I'm not going to lie or fudge about this, I was sent this charger freebie. Being jobless, I asked about a discount, and told Paul who I was on ES. He decided to sent me the charger completely free, and I promised to review it on ES.
Backstory. I have been a big fan of pingbattery for many years, but used RC lipo for higher power applications. Racing, Dirt riding, 40 amps stuff. Not daily riding, so charging with RC chargers was fine with me. But last year I put a large 5304 motor on my longtail cargo bike. And I put a 48v 40 amps controller on it. My pingbattery died of old age over the winter, and I used the last of my cash after I quit working to buy 48v 15 ah of new lipo. Using this big cargo bike now for daily transportation to grocery stores, I began to like the idea of bulk charging the RC lipo more. I also liked the idea of trying to do some touring with the longtail. I adjusted the voltage of my old 5 amps ping charger to 4.15v per cell of my lipo pack, and began to think a second charger would be really nice if I did need to charge a larger pack out on the road.
I needed another 48v charger. The idea of doing any business with bms battery had just about zero appeal. Then I read about EM3 ev's lithium chargers. They are pretty similar to the kingpan charger, with 5 amps of power, and a sturdy looking metal heat sink case. But what really turned me on, was the three way switch on the charger. At a flip of the switch, you get to choose between a 50% storage charge, a 90% lifespan extending charge, or a 100% charge when maximum range and voltage is desired.
I asked Paul to set my charger to match 14s lico. So the max charge is 58.8v for 4.2 volts per cell. The 90% setting is 57.4v for 4.1v per cell, and the storage charge setting is 53.2v.
Here is what it looks like. About 7" x 3.75"x 2" LTX appears to be the brand name. 48v 5 amps charger.
It has the usual two led lights. and as you can see it says clearly what they mean on the box. It has the CE certification, so nothing is risky homebuilt here. On the end of the charger is a recessed switch that selects either 110v AC or 220 v. I use andersons, so I was pleasantly surprised to see mine came with andersons on the discharge plug.
Here it is charging my 48v 10 ah pack, as it reaches top of 90% charge, with a wattmeter in line with the discharge cord.
Here is a close up of the wattmeter, as it tapers off the charge as the pack reaches 57.4v. When first attached to the battery, it definitely puts out the full 5 amps, more than 250w of charging power. But it nicely tapers off the charge to eventual zero as the pack reaches 57.4v. So far, no tendency whatsoever to overcharge the pack. I feel safe charging RC lipo with this charger, provided I have made sure there are no defective or user damaged cells in the pack.
Note that the wattmeter says 57.44v . Isn't that charger overcharging by .04v? No it isn't. Frankly, I'm quite amazed the cheap wattmeter in the pic measures even close to .05 v accuracy. Checking with a real DVM, I found that the charger was set precisely to the specified voltages.
Of course, I had to open the thing up immediately and look inside. I wanted to see if anything in there looked unable to take the shocks of riding around in a pannier bag on the bike. I've had bad experiences with funky daughter boards in cheap chargers. A few bumps, and the daughter board is shorting on the main board. Inside this charger there is a daughter board with some pots on it that look like they might be for adjusting the three voltage choices, but it's very firmly attached, and nothing else inside looks vulnerable to road vibrations.
I'm willing to say this charger can handle being carried around some.
I have been using this charger now for about two weeks, and I couldn't be happier, even if I had paid for it. Getting it free has no effect on my rating of it. It's a solid product, and Bulk chargers of Lico will love it for the three voltage settings. So convenient to just flip a switch when I want a 100% charge.
But if you have a pingbattery, a Sunthing lifepo4, or something like that, this charger can still be ideal. At a flip of a switch, you can have a higher voltage for kicking on the balancing functions of the bms, or a 90% charge that should extend the lifespan of the battery when you don't need to balance the pack.
Backstory. I have been a big fan of pingbattery for many years, but used RC lipo for higher power applications. Racing, Dirt riding, 40 amps stuff. Not daily riding, so charging with RC chargers was fine with me. But last year I put a large 5304 motor on my longtail cargo bike. And I put a 48v 40 amps controller on it. My pingbattery died of old age over the winter, and I used the last of my cash after I quit working to buy 48v 15 ah of new lipo. Using this big cargo bike now for daily transportation to grocery stores, I began to like the idea of bulk charging the RC lipo more. I also liked the idea of trying to do some touring with the longtail. I adjusted the voltage of my old 5 amps ping charger to 4.15v per cell of my lipo pack, and began to think a second charger would be really nice if I did need to charge a larger pack out on the road.
I needed another 48v charger. The idea of doing any business with bms battery had just about zero appeal. Then I read about EM3 ev's lithium chargers. They are pretty similar to the kingpan charger, with 5 amps of power, and a sturdy looking metal heat sink case. But what really turned me on, was the three way switch on the charger. At a flip of the switch, you get to choose between a 50% storage charge, a 90% lifespan extending charge, or a 100% charge when maximum range and voltage is desired.
I asked Paul to set my charger to match 14s lico. So the max charge is 58.8v for 4.2 volts per cell. The 90% setting is 57.4v for 4.1v per cell, and the storage charge setting is 53.2v.
Here is what it looks like. About 7" x 3.75"x 2" LTX appears to be the brand name. 48v 5 amps charger.
It has the usual two led lights. and as you can see it says clearly what they mean on the box. It has the CE certification, so nothing is risky homebuilt here. On the end of the charger is a recessed switch that selects either 110v AC or 220 v. I use andersons, so I was pleasantly surprised to see mine came with andersons on the discharge plug.
Here it is charging my 48v 10 ah pack, as it reaches top of 90% charge, with a wattmeter in line with the discharge cord.
Here is a close up of the wattmeter, as it tapers off the charge as the pack reaches 57.4v. When first attached to the battery, it definitely puts out the full 5 amps, more than 250w of charging power. But it nicely tapers off the charge to eventual zero as the pack reaches 57.4v. So far, no tendency whatsoever to overcharge the pack. I feel safe charging RC lipo with this charger, provided I have made sure there are no defective or user damaged cells in the pack.
Note that the wattmeter says 57.44v . Isn't that charger overcharging by .04v? No it isn't. Frankly, I'm quite amazed the cheap wattmeter in the pic measures even close to .05 v accuracy. Checking with a real DVM, I found that the charger was set precisely to the specified voltages.
Of course, I had to open the thing up immediately and look inside. I wanted to see if anything in there looked unable to take the shocks of riding around in a pannier bag on the bike. I've had bad experiences with funky daughter boards in cheap chargers. A few bumps, and the daughter board is shorting on the main board. Inside this charger there is a daughter board with some pots on it that look like they might be for adjusting the three voltage choices, but it's very firmly attached, and nothing else inside looks vulnerable to road vibrations.
I'm willing to say this charger can handle being carried around some.
I have been using this charger now for about two weeks, and I couldn't be happier, even if I had paid for it. Getting it free has no effect on my rating of it. It's a solid product, and Bulk chargers of Lico will love it for the three voltage settings. So convenient to just flip a switch when I want a 100% charge.
But if you have a pingbattery, a Sunthing lifepo4, or something like that, this charger can still be ideal. At a flip of a switch, you can have a higher voltage for kicking on the balancing functions of the bms, or a 90% charge that should extend the lifespan of the battery when you don't need to balance the pack.
